


The (Little) Witcher

by ShinyHokage



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - The Witcher Fusion, Elves, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Explosions, F/F, Mushrooms, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27018985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinyHokage/pseuds/ShinyHokage
Summary: Atsuko Kagari is an exception; at least that's what every scholar, sorceress, or common village pellar tells her. Maybe it was fate that led to her suspension between becoming a fully mutated witcher and retaining her magic connection. Or maybe it was just another failure in her long list of life finds a way... for accidents.Life also found a way for Akko to see an inspiration in action: Chariot du Nord, Aretuza Academy graduate extraordinaire.So obviously when the letter acknowledging Akko as a source and inviting her to Aretuza arrives, days spent trudging through sewers to hunt zeugls are the farthest thing from her mind.Someone else could save Princess Cendrilla.
Relationships: Diana Cavendish/Atsuko "Akko" Kagari
Comments: 6
Kudos: 45
Collections: Diakko Fics w/ AU's





	The (Little) Witcher

**Author's Note:**

> The one where Akko journeys to Aretuza in a much more adventurous and less distressful manner than Yennefer.
> 
> Considering the books only briefly touched upon Aretuza (rip), the setup will focus on the show's background. But in general I'm pulling lore and world descriptions from the books/games because I've poured wayyy more hours into those. At the same time, this isn't a linear timeline related to the events of the books and on (wow Aretuza exists still!).

_Eyes are windows to the soul._

Akko Kagari had read that in a nondescript book at some point, or heard it from a priest, or maybe she dreamt it. Regardless, when people ask her why her eyes are ‘odd’ – a polite way of addressing her heterochromia – why one is a deep crimson and the other yellow with a cat-like slit for a pupil, why said second eye glows under moonless nights and incites in them a primal fear… Akko doesn’t know what to respond. How to respond. Coming up with whatever answer they want meant she’d have to understand where their curiosity came from. 

She never has. 

So she consistently disarms their unease with a lopsided grin and tells it how it is.

“I’m a witcher.”

Three words that are always accompanied by gasps and revulsion permeating through their conventional eyes. It was the simplest answer, and the one they’d expect if they could see past tradition.

“Witchers can’t be women.” Their answer was simpler, but Akko continues to exist despite the fact that she can’t. 

_Just wait until I’m a sorceress too… Well, not yet, but that’s what Aretuza Academy’s for. And really, how hard can it be?_

It was with these thoughts swirling around her mind that Akko left the network of trees, brambles, and flowers native to Temeria behind, and found herself standing at the transition of the well-trodden dirt road into something more. Impossibly clean marble bricks parted the sandy shore before lifting from the ground and forming a bridge spanning the inlet. Dark oak posts covered in swirling vines extended from the bridge’s walls at equally spaced intervals and met above its center where metal braziers filled with a myriad of fire colors hung. But the lavish masonry and light fixtures weren’t what held Akko’s attention.

Beyond the crashing cobalt waves and white gypsum sand sat the isle – the isle, the singular isle that had dominated Akko’s every thought and action since she could remember. The isle that housed Aretuza, the foremost academy for aspiring sorceresses in the Northern Realms. Akko’s fingers slid into the pouch strapped to her belt and wrapped around the letter that had brought her here. 

_Dear Ms. Kagari,_

_It has come to our attention that you are a Source, a woman capable of accessing and drawing on Chaos. We implore you to adjourn to Aretuza Academy where we will monitor and mould your potential. Should you be unable to accommodate your travel, rectresses will be sent to aid in your retrieval._

_Sincerely,  
Head Rectress Holbrooke_

A girl less entranced would have thought twice at their word choice, but Akko glazed over ‘monitor’, ‘mould’, and 'retrieval', and quite frankly the only aspect of the letter that remained with her was that it was an invitation. An invitation she’d been ready to accept for years. With a smile and newfound skip in her step, Akko hopped onto the stones to begin her career as a sorceress.

 _Ah, right_ , she thought at the dull tap of her melded silver and steel sword slung across her back, second career, as a sorceress.

Time spent worrying and processing the events that had led to her abandonment of that profession was not on the agenda for today. Akko pushed the memories and associated adrenaline rush to the back of her mind and took in the sights. It wasn’t often she’d been graced with beauty. 

Akko grew up in a straw-hut village that somehow found itself in the swampiest swamp in north-eastern Temeria; and while lots of people loved their homes, Akko hated swamps. 

The sandstone bluffs adorned with rows of light stone houses with red tile roofs were in stark contrast with her childhood, and atop it all sat the impossibly delicate elven towers of her future. White marble evidently wasn’t reserved to bridges and short paths along the shore, the towers glistened against the sunset backdrop, the dark tips of their pointed roofs grazing the pink and orange clouds drifting by. Even the smells floating across the water were beautiful; lilac and gooseberries, cinnamon and muskroot, a far cry from the fish of Gors Velen’s market that she’d left behind that morning. 

_Peaceful_. Now there was an idea Akko could get used to. _Or, at least less chaotic... for now. Less blood-thirsty monster chaos and more magic booms._

“Out of the way halfling!” A gruff voice interrupted her admiration and Akko spun to see the snout of a horse bearing down on her. She barely managed to dive out of the horse’s path and tucked her legs in to avoid getting crushed by a set of wheels. The carriage’s sides were adorned with swirling gold and silver patterns. Akko thought she made out a pair of light blue eyes throw a disinterest glance at her from behind the door’s velvet curtain, but the carriage didn’t stop for her curiosity. Soon Akko was left curled up on the ground by herself as the driver’s mutterings faded into the distance along with the beating of her heart.

“I’m not a halfling…” Akko grumbled as she stood up and readjusted her dark gray cloak, now a darker shade of gray from what she hoped was just dust. 

“Are you alright?” Akko started at the sound and turned to see a girl with short orange hair and spectacles jogging toward her. _When did all these people get here?_

Akko yanked her hood over her head to shade her eyes but left it up enough so that the newcomer could see her grin. “It’ll take more than a carriage to stop me!” Her eyes darted back to her receding assailant, disappointed to see it wind its way through the lower town of Loxia and up to Aretuza. By this point the girl had reached Akko and must’ve read the sour look on her face.   
“Don’t take it personally, lots of sorceresses in training come from noble families. You’re not the first to narrowly avoid a crash. And you wouldn’t have been the first to not…” She trailed off and Akko   
caught her frowning at a scar under her knee. 

Akko crossed her arms. “Nobles or not, sorceresses are supposed to be role models to us all. Like Shiny Chariot. I’m going to be just like her and become the most powerful Chaos user on the Continent. Or the Skellige Isles for that matter.”

The girl blinked her turquoise eyes in surprise. “Shiny… Chariot? I didn’t think any Aretuza pupils still looked up to her...”

“And why not?” Akko didn’t mean for her remark to be scathing. “Chariot was an expert in kinetic magic, and she used it to spark joy instead of killing Nifgardians in the last Northern War. Who wouldn’t want to be like her?”

“Yeah, but she entered Tor Lara against the Council’s wishes and hasn’t been seen since… it’d be better for you not to mention-” She broke off at the glare in Akko’s eyes and smiled shyly. “But I admire your determination. My name’s Lotte, Lotte Yanson.”

Akko took her outstretched hand, anger forgotten at the prospect of a new friend. A friend. 

“Atsuko Kagari, call me Akko!” 

“Ok Akko, we should head to the welcoming ceremony. Rectress Finnelan isn’t very accommodating when it comes to tardiness.” The vacant look in Lotte’s eyes told Akko all she needed to know about the extent of ‘accommodating’. 

Akko scrutinized every Loxian passerby to the best of her ability without letting her hood slip; the skip of her heart each time her eyes rested on the navy robes of an Aretuza student made the risk well worth it. Her wandering eyes settled on Lotte from time to time. The academy had proven… well, in her words, accommodating of Akko’s biological circumstances. That didn’t erase years of hurled insults.   
_You’d think people would like monster slayers_ … More often than not, Akko found herself at the receiving end of ‘monster’, ironically even when she dropped off whatever trophy she’d carved from a town’s assailant. 

She shook her head and realized Lotte’s mouth had been moving through that entire train of thought… Oops. 

“… it’s my second year at Aretuza, but students of all years are expected to participate in the welcoming ceremony.”

Akko’s heart dropped; she had come to Aretuza to escape judgmental gazes and snap decisions on personal worth. What was this about… “Participate?”

Lotte patted her on the shoulder. “It’s nothing to worry about, a basic display of magic to honor the sorceresses that came before. Think of it as a gift you’d bring when invited over for dinner.”

Akko had never been ‘invited over for dinner’ but she nodded nonetheless. Dinner was for eating, she knew that much, so the welcoming ceremony involved… food?

Food was good. Yeah, Akko could handle food.

Think of a drowner, the heavenly scent of fresh-baked bread swarmed Akko’s nose. It came from a corner bakery with a wooden sign hanging from the tiled roof. _Kelpie’s Krumbs._ The front door was propped open, clearly to draw in unsuspecting taste buds, and a girl with hip-length mauve hair and… _a navy robe_! Akko didn’t hold back from staring at the student who appeared to be in the middle of a heated debate with the halfling baker. For his part, the halfling shook his head and pounded his palms on the counter. 

“What do you mean that mushroom was an eyesore? How dare you poison something so natural and beautiful…” The girl’s voice was surprisingly level for the word choice. 

The halfling huffed and readjusted his yellow apron before responding. ”Listen lady, mushrooms are a fungus and we can’t have fungi growing near us. The Loxia health inspectors would shut us down without mercy.”

“Where?” She growled. 

“Excuse me?”

“Where is it?”

Mushroom girl’s head turned to follow his outstretched hand out the front door and her red eyes with… white pupils bore through Akko. Maybe she’d give Akko a run for her money on the unnatural eyes   
front. Wait, she was looking at Akko? Akko turned and saw a compost bin sitting across the street. _Oh. Right. Makes sense. I don’t have contraband mushrooms._

When Akko turned back, she met the unrelenting force of a girl extremely intent on saving fungus. Years of witcher training had left her in tune with reflexes and balance, and Akko deftly pivoted and flipped backward to steady herself. Lotte’s hand hung in the air between them, an equal part shocked and impressed look on her face. 

“Where did you-“

Akko didn’t wait for Lotte to finish and dragged her friend in the other student’s wake. 

The other student who was currently hanging over the edge of the compost bin and flinging anything that wasn’t a mushroom into the street, much to the wealthier citizens’ chagrin. Which, considering Lotte’s earlier statement, meant a lot of angry glares. Matched by an unsettling buzz as Akko felt multiple Sources preparing to prove their mettle. 

So Akko enacted the smartest plan she could think of. 

And dove into the plant waste with her. 

Mushroom girl scowled and tried to shove Akko aside. “What are you-“

“Shut up I’m trying to help you,” Akko mumbled and wrapped her fingers around a squishy object. Mushroom girl’s hostility evaporated at the sight of the bright purple fungus in Akko’s hand, and Akko’s witcher reflexes were almost not fast enough to pick up the motion of the student claiming her prize. 

Akko’s plan worked. Mushroom in possession, the two Aretuza students removed themselves from the compost and… stood there. Without the lingering threat of angry and wealthy sorceresses. 

“I’m Atsuko Kagari, but call me Akko,” Akko broke the awkward silence. “Let’s be friends!”

Her unofficial friend’s red eyes shifted to Akko and she took in the entire sight before shrugging. “No thanks.”

“W-what?” Akko stuttered furiously. “But-but I just helped you get that mushroom and you almost got us all attacked!”

“Didn’t ask for help, cat-eye.”

“Wh-I-not-I don’t…” Akko froze. 

“Are you specializing in alchemy?” Lotte joined them and fidgeted with her glasses to get a better look at the purple mushroom. “I heard Rectress Lukic is hands-on.”

The corners of mushroom girl’s lips twitched into the beginnings of a smile at that. “Lukic is a genius. As her protégé I’m learning to brew the most potent concoctions known to man.” She twirled the mushroom before stuffing it into the folds of her robe. “Which require the most potent ingredients. A fact the magically lacking forget.” 

The door to _Kelpie’s Krumbs_ slammed shut. 

“I heard she’d taken on a new pupil, Su… Sucy right?” 

“Sucy Manbavaran.”

“Alchemy’s never been my strong suit. Rectress Badcock took me under her wing to study telempathy. It’s amazing how many magic styles are taught at Aretuza.” 

“Mm,” Sucy grunted in affirmation. Her eyes shifted from Lotte to Akko as if waiting for her to…

_To have a mentor and any idea of what I’m going to study…_

“Kinesis.” Akko placed her hands on her hips to portray a completely outward confidence; inside a sense of wonder and terror at how the only other two students she’d met seemed to already have their   
lives figured out filled her. Oh, and she guessed a third had almost run her over. Not a great start. ”Like Shiny Chariot.”

Lotte grimaced at Akko’s insistence to bring Chariot up again.

Sucy snorted. “I can see that.” _About time._

“We-we really should get going.” Lotte grabbed their hands and dragged the two down the street before Akko could think harder on Sucy’s tone. 

She need’nt have worried, Akko’s thoughts were consumed by this mysterious welcoming ceremony.

\---

Aretuza must’ve hosted giant sorceresses in the past; that was the only explanation for the sheer height of the mahogany doors awaiting them, past what Akko had thought was a tall iron entrance gate. The towers' and smooth marble and granite walls were no less imposing up close, Akko strained her neck to make out the constellations above. Somewhere along their trek up the mountain, the sun had finished setting. According to Lotte it was customary for Aretuza semesters to begin on the night of a full moon, and cliches aside Akko was grateful for the added light. The rainbow of flame sconces lighting their way had thinned out during the middle portion of their trek, apparently night-time travel was rare. Or any travel for that matter. 

Akko had been a prisoner of studies before. This time it would be her choice. 

“Ready to get kicked out of the fanciest school on the Concinent?” Sucy asked dryly. 

“I was born ready,” Akko answered on instinct before coughing. “To succeed. I’m going to ace this ceremony… thing… food!”

Lotte’s brow wrinkled. “Food?” 

Akko shoved the doors open and strode into Aretuza’s main hall. Flags from each of the Northern Kingdoms, as well as the less loved Nilfgardian provinces and vassal states, hung between stained glass windows depicting famous Aretuza graduates. She recognized the Redanian eagle, the Temerian lilies, the three Cintran lions, the blue rose of Nazair, the golden grape-vine of Toussaint, and… her eyes grew tired of sparking memories and settled on the throng of students and sorceresses gathered before her. 

Many rumors circulated about sorceresses. That they were amoral, bloodthirsty, spiteful, evil, but as Akko mouth hung open in awe, she remembered one: sorceresses were beautiful. Elaborate gowns with plunging necklines and matching jewelry sets marked the rectors. They looked to be in their thirties, but Akko knew it was an effect of glamours and potions; the sorceresses before her no doubt spanned in age from dozens to hundreds of years. Suddenly uncomfortable in her plain clothes, Akko scuffed her threadbare boots on the polished floor. 

Hindsight? Akko didn’t know her. 

The boot’s movement interrupted the idle conversations before her with a screech, and to add salt to injury, marred the surface with a scuff mark. 

Behind her Lotte let out a gasp and Sucy stifled a snicker; in front of her, Akko blanched at a furious elven rectress striding across the hall. Her brown hair was held up in a braided bun, no doubt to draw attention to the blue crystals hanging from her neck. Blue cystals that matched her eyes; Akko would be hard pressed to find a similar assortment. Did yellow gemstones exist? Maybe she could find one and pair it with a ruby and then her eyes could also be considered…

“Remove your hood this instant.” The rectress slowed to a half a yard in front of Akko and waved angrily at the clothing still obscuring the girl’s face. Her hand didn’t move to follow the instruction. She couldn’t… not with everyone staring at her now. Discomfort was read as disobedience and the sorceress lunged forward to remove the hood. 

Alarm got the better of Akko. 

Akko’s right hand shifted into the sign of Aard and she thrust it at her assailant on instinct; a blast of wind knocked the rectress to the floor. 

“What kind of magic was that?”

“Was that a sign?”

“Is she some kind of mutant?”

 _Shouldn’t have done that_ , Akko did her best to ignore the comments floating from her future peers. _I should not have done that._

Hey, Akko was right. The rectress’ bewildered look was quickly replaced by an icier fury, she rose to her feet and muttered a spell. A stream of air burst through Akko’s lips and her hands clutched at her throat when she realized what it was. This sorceress specialized in aerokinesis and unfortunately for Akko, she breathed air.

Unfortunately for Akko was becoming a staple of the day. 

Preoccupied with survival, Akko let her guard down concerning the hood and failed to notice it slide off. 

A nondescript number of students screamed, but what stung Akko most was the fear that sparked in Lotte’s eyes. Akko lowered her gaze to the floor. She was going to suffocate on her first day. This was definitely not how Chariot’s introduction went. Red spots prickled at her peripheral vision as the sorceress breezed past Akko’s identity and continued to reprimand her, physically and with words Akko couldn’t make out over her pulse pounding against her eardrums. 

“Finnelan, enough!” Air rushed back into Akko’s lungs and she crumpled over her scuff mark, gasping. She blinked away the spots and squinted at a new face hovering before her; bright red eyes, pretty unlike Sucy’s unnerving ones, shone with concern behind winged glasses. Her dress was plainer in comparison to her fellows, cream-colored with a reserved neckline, but the ruby necklace sparkled with the same intensity of her eyes. Akko grinned groggily; she’d been right about ruby being a fantastic necklace option. 

“You’re Atsuko Kagari, right? I’m Usrula Callistis. I apologize for Rectress Finnelan’s actions, it is perfectly understandable of you to wish for privacy.” Ursula shot daggers at Finnelan, the glare in juxtaposition with her otherwise tranquil and welcoming aura. 

“Aretuza has already made an exception for her nature. Breaches in etiquette were not a part of our agreement.” Akko frowned at Finnelan’s words, what agreement? She’d received an invitation to the academy, same as everyone else. 

Ursula disregarded Finnelan’s complaint and focused her eyes on Akko once more. Her brief stint with choking had left Akko shivering, but there was something familiar in that gaze that filled her with warmth instead. 

“Ahem,” a halfling sorceress cleared her throat from the center of the hall. The students who’d arrived before Akko’s trio – which was everyone it seemed, at least she was on time – had formed a ring around her, and the central position left Akko with no doubt that this was Head Rectress Holbrooke. A wave of relief washed over her that this sorceress didn’t bear the same cruelty as Finnelan. “All students to receive letters are welcome to enter our halls. With that said, your future status is dependent on the welcoming ceremony tradition.” With a nod Holbrooke indicated a line of podiums before her, on top of which sat… caged mice. Akko’s hand shot to her neck and clasped the lump in her shirt covering her witcher pendant; the school of the mouse was both the newest addition and the first to fall. 

This had to be a coincidence. 

“Six students will be called at random and use the vessels to call forth the elements: air, fire, lightning, water, ice, and earth.” Vessels? 

Sucy materialized to Akko’s left. “You don’t look so good.”

Akko swallowed her misgivings and smirked. “I don’t need a mouse to do magic.”

“… the first group is Lotte Yanson.” The timid girl sighed at her mention and approached the podiums, obviously disappointed with this semester’s ceremony. The implications of vessel still hadn’t made their way through Akko’s mind. “Hannah England, Barbara Parker.” An intertwined pair of girls practically skipped forward, auburn curls and straight black hair bouncing with them. They seemed positive, maybe Akko could… Hannah tilted her head to the side and shot Akko a disgusted glance. Nevermind. “Sucy Manbavaran, Atsuko Kagari.” Yes! At least Akko would go into this with her two friends. “And Diana Cavendish.” Holbrooke ended with a respectful bow to a slender girl with wavy blonde hair and cerulean blue eyes. Akko’s brow furrowed in concentration, those eyes… those eyes were…

“You almost ran me over!” Akko blurted out, finger pointing accusingly at Diana. 

“My carriage follows strict guidelines, if you crossed our path it was surely a result of your own ignorance,” the cool tone made Akko’s eye twitch. Before she knew it she found herself across the hall and planted in front of the blonde, red and yellow eyes radiating indignation. 

“That’s no excuse!”

Diana’s lips curled into a frown at Akko’s proximity. “Please refrain from touching me.”

Akko stepped closer, enough to notice the pointed ears and height difference of her enemy. _Figures an elf would be this stuck up. I bet she's some Dol Blathanna royal._ “What? Afraid the _mutant_ will infect you?”

A flash of something Akko attributed to pity crossed Diana’s eyes. It just made her angrier. 

“I was not the one to use that term,” Diana answered. “And I am well aware that your… condition is not infectious.”

_Condition. I’m a condition._

Akko opened her mouth to fire back a retort but was cut off by a smack to the back of her head. Rubbing it gingerly, she slowly turned to see Rectress Finnelan shaking her head. 

“If the remaining students would take their positions,” Holbrook directed her attention at Akko and Diana, who it turned out were the only two still not behind podiums, and – oh come on, Lotte and Sucy had situated themselves as far as possible from Hannah and Barbara. Which meant Akko would be next to this snob. 

Akko cracked her knuckles and raced to beat the very much walking Diana there. Her hands twitched in anticipation at her sides and she raised them to rest on the wooden surface next to the mouse’s cage. The anima’s tiny red eyes looked at her pleadingly, and in that moment, Akko decided she’d release the poor creature after whatever came next. 

“Magic, Chaos, comes at a price. In order to call on and control it, sacrifices must be made. Today we ask for only a small demonstration of power, and thus the creatures before you are sufficient.” Yeah, yeah, Akko had heard Holbrook’s speech about demonstrating power already, what was new? “Sucy, begin with aerokinesis.”

A hush fell over the hall and all eyes focused on Sucy; Akko paid extra close attention, Sucy’s method would no doubt prove useful for figuring out how she was supposed to conjure… lightning. She had lightning. Cool, she’d seen lightning before at least! Her wandering mind almost made Akko miss what happened next. 

Sucy held a hand over the mouse’s cage and pointed the other at the ceiling. The student spoke an incantation in the Elder Speech, Akko still wasn’t an expert but she made out ‘appreciate’ and ‘sacrifice’. 

Ok, maybe this ceremony had some of the less respected sorceress stereotypes in it…

The mouse collapsed and caved in as if its lungs had been completely deflated, in its life’s stead a stream of air flowed from Sucy’s other hand and danced around the hall. Students ooo’d and aaah’d at the fluttering tapestries; Akko only felt the pit in her stomach. But it just needed to breath, right? That was a lot of air for mouse lungs, but lungs were built to expel air. 

Akko mulled over this revelation for the duration of Lotte’s demonstration, and watched in horror as her mouse burst into the same flames that shot from her hand. And in another moment all eyes settled on Akko. 

She froze. 

“Miss Kagari?” Holbrooke called. 

Akko raised her hand over the cage and met the mouse’s eyes. She’d hunted monsters a thousand times its size, fought off bandits, even wrestled an opossum once. Every act of violence she’d taken in her life had been in the name of survival. 

This was a display. 

Akko bit the inside of her cheek and lowered her hand. “No.”

Finnelan’s fury returned in an instant. “No? Miss Kagari you are aware that failure to complete the-“

“I don’t need the mouse!” 

“Preposterous, all sorceresses require…” Finnelan trailed off at Holbrooke’s wave. The Head Rectress motioned for Akko to proceed with her plan. 

_Ok, lightning. Ah, I wish I had fire, then I could just use the Igni sign… There’s no sign for electricity._

They were waiting, everyone was always waiting for her. Akko didn’t know how to respond. She knew she had her dream, she knew she revered Shiny Chariot, and she knew that were Chariot there, she   
would tell Akko one thing. 

_A believing heart is your magic._

_Not some mouse._

Akko extended both arms above her head and closed her eyes. Magic came with a price, and she decided each spell would come from a sliver of believing in herself. 

Feainn, the midsummer solstice, marked the day Atsuko Kagari blasted a hole in Aretuza’s roof.

**Author's Note:**

> Yennefer plant initiation test? Why not mouse
> 
> Also the one where oops I've been sucked into Stardew Valley and Among Us for a few weeks
> 
> Elf Diana makes sense


End file.
